Moray SNP News

SNP MSP Richard Lochhead has slammed the UK government’s cuts to welfare, after new figures from the Trussell Trust revealed that foodbank use in Moray has risen by 19% since last year.

Foodbank use in Scotland has risen by 15% between April and September compared to the same period in 2017. Foodbank providers have said the rise is largely due to the in-built minimum wait of five weeks for a first payment for those migrated to Universal Credit – with many more people forced to wait even longer than five weeks.

Britain’s biggest foodbank provider, the Trussell Trust, has called for ‘urgent changes’ to Universal Credit – while the SNP have consistently called for a halt to the roll-out of the scheme.

Last week, the United Nationals Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights visited the UK to investigate the impact of austerity, and has reported on the effects of the UK Government’s failing efforts to tackle poverty in the UK, the impact of austerity measures, welfare cuts, Universal Credit, and Brexit.

Commenting on the figures, Richard Lochhead said:

“These are truly heart-breaking figures for Moray, which bring into sharp focus the devastating impact the Tory government is having people in on our local communities.

“The fact that foodbank use is growing across Scotland is a clearly damning indictment of UK government cuts to welfare, and the botched roll-out of Universal Credit.

“While sustained Tory cuts have created this problem, we can see that where Universal Credit has rolled out it has made things worse – which is why the roll out must be halted, so the fundamental flaws can be addressed.

“I see the impact of Tory benefit cuts on a daily basis in communities across Moray, and the Tories have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted with social security in Scotland.

“Only with full powers over social security can we begin to mitigate the effects of this disaster of a UK government, in order to make Scotland an equal country with a dignified and fair welfare system.”

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